The Dalian Shipyard, which is run by the state-owned China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, also built the Type 055 destroyers that have been hailed as the most advanced ships of their type in Asia.

The launch of two 055s in July last year also prompted speculation that Beijing wanted to expand and upgrade its navy to compete with the United States, which currently has 66 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.

Sailors on the deck of the new type 055 guided-missile destroyer Nanchang during a naval parade near Qingdao in eastern China's Shandong province, April 23, 2019.
AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein

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Military analysts, however, said the rapid expansion of the fleet may start to slow down soon.

"The pace of building new warships reached a peak this year as the decision to build most of these new vessels was made by the previous leadership before Xi Jinping came to power and began his military reforms," said Beijing-based analyst Zhou Chenming. Zhou also said the building programme had been accelerated thanks to the relatively low cost of raw materials such as steel.

China's first domestically developed aircraft carrier in Dalian after its first sea trials.REUTERS/Stringer

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Hong Kong-based military analyst Song Zhongping said the PLA also needed to handle the practical challenge of retiring its older warships, such as the Type 051 destroyer, older Type 053 frigates and Type 037 corvettes.

According to PLA sources, the Type 052C and Type 052D will become the mainstays of China's destroyer fleet, but there is still a gap between their capabilities and those of the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. For example, the Arleigh Burke can cover 4,400 nautical miles at a speed of 20 knots, while the Type 052D has a range of 4,000 nautical miles at 15 knots.

"China is adding more new warships but perhaps at a slower pace now," Zhou said. "At the same time, it is strengthening its crew management training and fleet operations to catch up with the advances in hardware."

One area where the PLA is trying to catch up with the US navy is its marine corps, which will soon expand from two brigades to six. China currently has 20 Type 052D destroyers, but only 11 in active service, while the others are undergoing sea trials or are being fitted out. The Type 052D destroyer is about 154 metres (505 feet) long with a displacement capacity of 7,500 tonnes, whereas the Arleigh Burke class has a significantly bigger displacement of 9,800 tonnes.

Both the Chinese and American destroyers are equipped with the world's most sophisticated active electronically scanned array systems, but the American ship is armed with 96 vertical launch systems — 60 of which are dedicated to air defenses — in contrast to the Chinese ship's 64. Song also said that China's radar system has a better immunity from interference, and a greater compatible ability to command different electronic systems.

USS Preble, USS Halsey, and USS Sampson in the Persian Gulf, March 24, 2018.
US Navy